Chapter 340: Anodyne
n. anything that relieves distress or pain.
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The beacon steadily blazed within the distance as Gaara and his small team of Jounins approached the Suna-Konoha border. Slowly the landscape transformed from craggy canyons and dried snaking rivers to shifting sand dunes. Within the distance, where the beam shone the brightest, small, dilapidated houses surrounded a granite well.
A small whisper of familiarity resonated in Gaara's mind the closer to the beacon they got. A long distant memory arising of clear blue eyes and a bittersweet smile stretched over pink lips. Gaara, never known for his speed, increased his pace leaving his Jounins behind. A nameless hope beat in the darkest depths of his heart as he cautiously approached the abandoned town.
His pace slowed as he slipped between the rickety buildings. The brightness of the beacon burned his eyes, but the expected pain of the chakra washing over him, leaving him untouched.
Gaara crept towards the well in the center of the town where the ray was at its brightest. The hope from before built like a crescendo, a niggling idea of what might be in the well jolting his heart.
"Kagome?" He whispered, heartbeat in his throat as he looked over the edge of the well.
No response came and the brightness of the beacon blinded him to what lay at the bottom. Building credulousness led him to the edge of the well to carefully descend into its depths upon a veil of sand before he could smother the hope exploding in his gut.
His sand guided him down the shaft of the well, vigilant in keeping his senses open for any lingering threats that might await him. Calming the frantic twists in his gut he was just able to make out the sobs reverberating off the granite walls. Distractedly Gaara allowed his sand to descend more hastily through the tunnel.
Gaara landed softly on the earth at the bottom of the well, his eyes sluggishly adjusting to the brightness of the well without his sand to shade him from its brilliance.
Tucked into a ball lay a sobbing girl. Tears and snot, a beautiful wreckage maring her face as she hugged her bleeding knees to her chest.
Gaara was not great at emotions, but instinctively he knew what she needed. He carefully fell to his knees at her side and scooped her tightly to his chest, both arms holding her close to his beating heart.
Kagome's senses listlessly returned, scarcely registering the frantic beat of a foreign heart throbbing over her anguish. Their golden aura leaked through her closed eyelids, its presence effervescent and comforting in its vague familiarity. She had seen a few Suna nins with golden auras, but none of them burned as brightly as this presence.
Pay attention to your surroundings Ka-go-me! Admonished Inuyasha's gruff voice in her mind. But instead of pulling her away from the grief, the imagined reprimand sent her spiraling. Tears that had begun to dry became a heaving bawl once again. Her fingers clenched into the long sleeves of the individual as they shifted to rest Kagome gently into their lap.
"Are you hurt?" questioned the presence. Their voice an even-toned legato that soothed Kagome's fraying heart, calming her gasping sobs. Slowly Kagome pried her tear swollen eyes open to catch a glimpse of her comforter.
Although the well was darkening, her comforter's teal eyes shone through the dimness. Squinting she could make out the jagged red spikes of their hair.
"Gaara?" she gasped, her eyes rounding in surprise and shock. Gaara seemed different, taller and firmer, but it was his soft expression that wrenched her heart.
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